One of the benefits of working from home is designing a space that inspires and motivates you.
If you’ve been perfecting your home set-up, you’re probably tempted to deck out your space with a few desk plants.
And there’s a really good reason you should.
Plants can transform an ordinary work environment into something living and breathing. They can increase the humidity around your desk, remove toxins from the air, and add a touch of style to your workspace.
In fact, a growing body of research reveals that the humble desk plant can offer a variety of benefits for our health and productivity while we work from home, including ⬇️
- Air Quality Benefits: Don’t think you have harmful chemicals in your office? Think again! Harmful toxins and allergens are common in everyday items such as furniture, carpets and printer ink. Research from NASA shows us that plants can help remove or significantly reduce these toxins from the air.
- Health Benefits: Plants are natural humidifiers helping relieve many ailments synonymous with working indoors such as dry skin, sore throats, and dry coughs.
- Mood Benefits: Office plants can reduce stress levels, boost our mood, and even improve our perception of our home workspace, making it a more attractive place to be.
- Productivity Benefits: Good health and boosted mood can lead to increased productivity. Research also suggests plants can support an increase in alertness and attentiveness. Win, win, win!
If you want to reap the many benefits of desk plants but want to avoid getting stuck with a sad plant cemetery, we’ve got your back. We’ve picked our top 7 plants that make great additions to your home desk, and they won’t require you to take a degree in horticulture to look after them properly – bonus!
Snake Plant
The Snake plant or Mother in Law’s Tongue is one of the hardiest houseplants. They can thrive in the typical dry air, low lighting conditions characteristic of many workspaces.
They also require little special attention. They can last up to a month without water and are among the few plants that can tolerate low light or full sun conditions.
That being said, to keep your Snake plant happy and healthy, we recommend positioning in a bright spot away from direct sunlight and letting the soil dry out between watering, especially in the winter months.
Spider Plant
The spider plant is one tough cookie houseplant that can withstand an array of challenging growing conditions. They don’t need a lot of light and can survive with infrequent watering.
This humble little fellow falls into the category of natural air-purifying plants making your workspace cleaner, greener and healthier.
Spider Plants look best planted in a hanging pot or set on the edge of your desk, making them ideal for small spaces.
Aloe Vera Plant
We couldn’t write a blog about easy-care desk plants without mentioning the total crowd-pleaser that is Aloe Vera.
Aloe plants are easy to grow if supplied with one essential ingredient: lots of bright light. If your desk is located near a sunny window, place your Aloe there, and forget about it. These succulents only need watering every couple of weeks.
Devil's Ivy Plant
The Devil’s Ivy or Pothos is a type of evergreen vine. The leaves are large and sometimes heart-shaped and come in a wide variety of light and dark colours.
This species adapts well to a variety of conditions, from low light levels to brighter ones. This easy-to-care-for plant with heart-shaped, white-splotched leaves makes a lovely addition sitting on a desk, shelf or table. Larger specimens, trained around a pole or cane, look great in big pots on the floor.
Aglaonema Plant
Sometimes just called “aglos” or “Chinese Evergreen”, the Aglaonema plant is a popular choice for home offices because of their attractive appearance and easy-care characteristics.
This plant doesn't like direct sunlight, making them perfect for home offices, where window light is a commodity.
The Aglaonema is one of a handful of plants that can adapt to fluorescent lighting conditions. This, combined with its relatively low watering demands, makes this indoor plant a safe choice for even the most forgetful plant owners.
ZZ Plant
Pretty and impossible to kill, the ZZ plant is practically tailor-made for those with zero knowledge of growing plants.
This beautiful specimen is a very popular indoor plant that displays small glossy leaves on stems that can grow up to 3ft long indoors!
This low-maintenance plant can take weeks of neglect and thrive in low light conditions while looking fabulous all the while.
To keep this tough cookie looking their best, we recommend keeping away from direct sunlight and watering once the top inch of soil is dry to touch.
Cacti & Succulents
When all else fails, there are the trusty cacti or succulent.
The usual small stature and low-maintenance nature make them apt for small desks or any corner of your office.
Commonly found in dry, harsh deserts, the cacti plant is one of the only plants that thrive on neglect. They prefer higher light levels, so if you are lucky enough to have a window desk, they will thrive!
Ready to shop your very own little green desk buddy? Browse and choose from our selection of desk-friendly plants here.
If you enjoyed this blog, why not check out some of our similar posts:
- 5 Common Indoor Plant Problems and How to Fix Them
- Our Guide to Choosing the Right Plant for Each Room in Your Home
- 5 Indoor Plants that can Boost Your Health & Wellness at Home
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